was a village headman in Hiro,

Kii Province , or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Pro ...

(current Hirogawa, Wakayama) noted for his role in saving villagers from a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

during the 1854 Ansei-Nankai earthquake. In the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, he became an entrepreneur, the seventh owner of Yamasa, the noted

soy sauce Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of China, Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermentation (food), fermented paste of soybeans, roasted cereal, grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''A ...

brewer, philanthropist and politician.

Biography

Early history

Hamaguchi Goryō was born to a cadet branch of the Hamaguchi family in what is now Yuasa, Wakayama. The Hamaguchi family were soy sauce brewers and merchants, and had operations in both Shimosa and Kii Province. At the age of 12, he was adopted by the main family, which was based at what is now Chōshi, Chiba, where he relocated. In October 1839, he married a daughter of Ikenaga Umetaro in Yuasa at the age of 20. After staying in Hiro-mura for another six months, he returned to Chōshi via Edo in the following spring. By that time, he had already mastered the techniques of

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

, especially ''

kendo is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords ( shinai) as well as protective armor ( bōgu). It began as samurai warriors' customary swordsmanship ex ...

''. In addition, he was very good at composing and writing poems. As a youth, he was interested in western medicine and

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and during the Bakumatsu period, he volunteered to the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

to be sent abroad for training, but was not accepted. At the age of 30, he returned to his native Kii Province and in 1852, opened a private academy for the training of commoner youths in trades. This academy was the forerunner of the current Wakayama Prefectural Taikyu High School. In 1854, he inherited the position of family head as the 7th generation Hamaguchi Goryō.

The Ansei-Nankai earthquake and aftermath

In the hours after the 1854 Ansei-Nankai earthquake, Hamaguchi Goryō recognized the danger to the village posed by a tsunami and urged the villagers to evacuate to a nearby hill containing the Hiro Hachiman Shrine. Since it was night, he ordered that the stacked sheaves of rice, which were drying after the recent harvest, be set on fire to guide the villagers to safety. As a result, more than 90 percent of the villagers escaped the tsunami. The story was quickly popularized by ''Inamura no Hi: The Burning Rice Fields'' by Tsunezo Nakai (translated and published in English by Sara Cone Bryant) and

Lafcadio Hearn was a Greek-born Irish and Japanese writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture and literature of Japan to the Western world. His writings offered unprecedented insight into Japanese culture, especially his collections of legend ...

's ''Gleanings in Buddha-Fields'' (1897), with some elaborations, and the account of his heroism became required reading in Japanese textbooks. After the disaster, Hamaguchi Goryō worked to restore the damaged bridge and built a huge seawall, the Hiromura Embankment, over a four-year period. This large-scale civil engineering work was intended not only for disaster prevention,but was also to provide employment for the villagers who had lost everything due to the tsunami. The cost of the 600 meters long, 20 meters wide and 5 meters high embankment was the equivalent of 4667 ''

ryō The was a gold currency unit in the shakkanhō system in pre- Meiji Japan. It was eventually replaced with a system based on the '' yen''. Origins The ''ryō'' was originally a unit of weight from China, the ''tael.'' It came into use in Ja ...

'' and was paid for by Hamaguchi and earned him the sobriquet of "a living god". Some 88 years later, this embankment protected Hirogawa from a tsunami from the 1946 Nankai earthquake.

Political career

In 1868, despite his commoner status, Hamaguchi was appointed a magistrate (''

bugyō was a title assigned to ''samurai'' officials in feudal Japan. ''Bugyō'' is often translated as commissioner, magistrate, or governor, and other terms would be added to the title to describe more specifically a given official's tasks or jurisdi ...

'') of

Kishū Domain The Kishū Domain (紀州藩, Kishū-han), also referred to as Kii Domain or Wakayama Domain, was a feudal domain in Kii Province, Japan. This domain encompassed regions in present-day Wakayama and southern Mie Prefecture, Mie prefectures and ...

and a professor at the domain academy. He was asked to lead efforts to reform and modernize the domain's economy. Following the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, in 1871 he was asked by Okubo Toshimichi to head the , a department set up by the

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

to manage post stations, but as the department overlapped that of the Bureau of Posts, the position was abolished after only a few weeks. In 1880, he became the first chairman of the Wakayama Prefectural Assembly. In preparation for the opening of the Imperial Diet, he formed the ''Kikuni Doyukai'' a local proto-political party. In 1885, he went on a world trip, which had been his dream since his youth. He died in New York, in the United States. His funeral was held on June 15, 1885, in Hirogawa and more than 4,000 people gathered to pay their final respects.

Timeline

References

* Hearn, Lafcadio ''Gleanings in Buddha-Fields: Studies of Hand and Soul in the Far East (1897)'' * Ladd, George Trumbull ''Rare Days in Japan (1910)'' * Ladd, George Trumbull ''In Korea with Marquis Ito (1908)'' * Bryant, Sara Cone ''The Burning Rice Fields (1963)'' * Hodges, Margaret Moore ''The Wave (1964)''

External links

Yamasa Corporation

Yamasa Corporation USA

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamaguchi, Goryo 1820 births 1885 deaths Tsunami Meiji Restoration Japanese businesspeople Japanese philanthropists People from Wakayama Prefecture